Platte County’s season ends in district opener with Vignery out due to illness

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Platte County spent the better part of two weeks trying to adjust playing time and roles in the wake of a critical injury.

In the end, none of the preparations mattered. The Pirates encountered a scenario both unlikely and devastatingly difficult to endure with senior star guard Judah Vignery unavailable for Thursday’s Class 5 District 8 opener due to illness.

Platte County still nearly avenged two prior losses, carrying a lead into the latter half of the fourth quarter before wilting late in a season-ending 55-48 loss to Smithville at Winnetonka High School. Without one of the top scorers in the Kansas City metro area, the Pirates struggled to find an offensive focal point in the final minutes and finished a 13-13 season on a five-game losing streak — a conclusion not representative of the resurgence experienced from the senior leadership of Vignery, Connor Currence, Brady Wetzel, Isaac Dittrick and Jacob Isaacson.

“Without a doubt, I was happy with how they played,” Platte County coach Rick Hodge said. “We talked how without Judah on the floor there’s not a whole lot of people outside of this locker room that gives us much of a chance, but I don’t care. What I cared about was that they felt like they had a chance, and that they wanted to fight and prove some people wrong. We can’t blame effort. They battled hard; they played hard. They wanted this badly.

Smithville (14-13), which saw its season end two days later in a semifinal loss to Winnetonka, earned the No. 4 seed by virtue of two regular season wins in matchups between the rivals.

Without Vignery, fifth-seeded Platte County seemed a decided underdog but led most of the way behind 16 points from junior forward Jaden Peterson, a career-high 11 from Wetzel and nine from emergent junior guard Anthony Morrison. However, the Pirates scored just seven total in the fourth quarter.

Peterson put back a missed 3-pointer from sophomore reserve point guard Jayden Martin to increase Smithville’s deficit to three points, and the Warriors went into a timeout with 5 minutes, 52 seconds left in regulation trailing 45-41.

Smithville responded with a methodical 8-0 run spanning almost 4 minutes and led by five twice late.

At one point, Peterson had a pair of good looks in the paint on a Platte County possession with just over a minute left in regulation that could have trimmed the deficit back to three. Instead, the Warriors hit a pair of late free throws and held on for their third win over the Pirates this season.

There were no 3-pointers made in the second half, uncharacteristic for two typically perimeter-oriented teams.

“As the game goes down the wire, every possession is just magnified and every shot is magnified,” Hodge said. “You’re hoping you have a little bit of a lead to keep them loose on their shooting because it’s Judah that’s taken a lot of those shots late game, and suddenly, we’re looking for someone else. That’s a difficult ask.”

Platte County’s late season skid came shortly after losing Dittrick to a season-ending knee injury, which turned out to be a torn ACL, in a win over Grain Valley late in the season. That left an opening in the starting lineup Morrison filled on most occasions, but Hodge continued to tinker with lineups int he final two weeks of the regular season. The Pirates ended up losing four straight ahead of districts, two in Suburban Conference White Division play that kept them from earning a share of the league title.

With Vignery not in attendance Thursday, Hodge inserted junior forward Archie Wesley into Platte County’s starting five and played all 12 players dressed out, including juniors Hayden Schultz and Brett Mueller and sophomores Brennan McLaughlin, Jack Utz and Braiden Stevens. All five had seen the floor in varying capacities throughout the season but were thrust into more critical situations in a high-stakes game.

McLaughlin finished with six points, while Schultz added two — a key basket in the fourth quarter as the Pirates tried to hold on.

“They hadn’t been in those positions before,” Hodge said. “And so we didn’t know how they’d respond in those positions, and as you’re going through a game like that, you’re trying to look into their eyes and see who is ready to perform at that level and in that environment. That’s what we were looking at.

“Without Judah on the floor, that’s about 31 free minutes we’re looking disperse throughout the roster and get them all some experience.

Peterson, who finished with a double-double thanks to 10 rebounds plus a team-high three assists, scored the game’s first points, and Wetzel hit a corner 3 to answer one from Smithville’s Max McKenzie on the other end to put Platte County up 5-3. Morrison and McLaughlin also hit a 3 apiece in the first quarter to send the Pirates into the second up 17-11.

Smithville answered with a 9-2 run to take its second lead at 20-19. The lone baskets for Currence and Stevens put Platte County right back in front, but the Warriors ended up with two prolonged pushes in the second quarter — the second eight unanswered points — and went into halftime up 31-25.

Platte County charged right back. Morrison scored six of his nine points and Wetzel added the last five of his 11 in a key stretch of the third quarter. A driving layup from Morrison tied the score at 35-35, only for Smithville to answer with a three-point play from senior Jake Shaffer. The Warriors also faced adversity with senior leading scorer Toby Ford held scoreless for the first three quarters while battling foul trouble. He finished with just four points.

Peterson also scored six in the third quarter for Platte County, and his inside basket with 1:04 on the clock helped send the Pirates into the fourth quarter up 41-40.

“Those are the kind of guys, the starters, that kind of wanted to prove to some people that they can get this done, and they didn’t back down from the fight,” Hodge said.

Platte County’s momentum held for most of the next 3 minutes but fluttered away at the wrong time.

Currence, Wetzel and Isaacson played their final game, while Dittrick watched on, unable to generate quite enough to give Vignery a chance to return for one final game. He entered the season as the Pirates’ lone returning starter while Currence and Peterson were key reserved during an eight-win 2022-23 season with Wetzel and Dittrick receiving only brief cameos.

For the majority of this season, Vignery helped keep Platte County from losing any more than two in a row, scoring more than 30 in four games and averaging 22.9 points per game. The Pirates went on a four-game win streak starting in late January and ending with a second victory of the season in White Division play over William Chrisman, three days after losing Dittrick.

Platte County would not win another game, but Vignery surpassed 1,000 points for his career during a loss to Raytown on Friday, February 16 — becoming just the eighth player in program history to reach the milestone and underscoring his historically elite season.

Uniquely, Platte County owned a win in the regular season over top-seeded Winnetonka (22-5), which hosts William Chrisman (15-13) for the Class 5 District 8 title on Tuesday. The Pirates only fell to the No. 5 seed due to two losses to Kearney (13-13) and Smithville.

With Vignery, a run to the postseason seemed possible, especially with Kearney upset in the opening round against seventh-seeded Van Horn. His absence simply came at the most inopportune and unpredictable time.

“You feel bad for the kid because of how he has gotten so much better in the four years he’s been in our program and the passion that he’s played with and all of his accomplishments,” Hodge said. “For it to end too quickly for him also is tough. Your heart bleeds for a kid like that because of what he has given to our program. To finish .500 and second in the conference with some nice wins to boot, I really felt like we were rolling, and the Isaac Dittrick injury hurt us and then obviously losing Judah. But I’m not making excuses. Every team battles injuries and the same things, but that’s when we were playing well and peaking at the right time, believing and coming together.”